UPDATE 1-Brazil's biggest party sticks with unpopular Rousseff - for now

BRASILIA, July 27 (Reuters) - Brazil's largest party is
standing by deeply unpopular President Dilma Rousseff for now
despite the defection of one of its own leaders, but that could
change if an expected recession stirs up social unrest, party
leaders say.

Rousseff is struggling to save her presidency amid the worst
economic downturn in 25 years and a political crisis set off by
a massive kickback scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras
implicating dozens of politicians from her coalition.

Eduardo Cunha, speaker of the lower house of Congress, broke
off ties with Rousseff and wants his Brazilian Democratic
Movement Party (PMDB) to pull out of the coalition but other
party leaders say they are not ready to do that.

Instead, they plan to stand by Rousseff until 2018, when the
party plans to field its own presidential election candidate.

"We will not break with her government now because that
would worsen the serious economic situation Brazil faces in the
second half of the year," Senator Eunicio Oliveira, the PMDB's
leader in the Senate, told Reuters.

Just six months into her second and final term, Rousseff is
walking on thin ice.

Polls show that almost two in every three Brazilians would
like to see her impeached for mismanaging the economy and
allegedly using kickback money in her 2010 and 2014 election
campaigns. Her approval rating dropped to 7.7 percent in one
poll published last week.
Continuación...